Improvement in railroad-train brakes



I. DQBUTLER.

RAILROAD TRAIN-BRAKE,

Patented March 28, 18 76.

INVENTDH:

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WITNISESG:

NPEI'ERS. PNDTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D c.

view of the same.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTCE.

JAMES D. BUTLER, OF LANOASTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-TRAIN BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,417, dated March 28,1876; application filed August 25, 1875.

i To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES D. BUTLER, of

Lancaster, Massachusetts, ha've'i'nvented a My invention refers to the class of railroad-traiii-brakes operated by the alternate supply to, and withdrawal from, the brakepressure cylinders or their equivalents," of air or other fluid, through pipes communicating with these pressure-cylinders or their equivalents. By a novel arrangement and construction of some of these parts I am enabled to reduce the disastrous effects of the uncoupling of any of the pipes, or. of rupture in the pipes or cylinders.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a'train embodying my invention. Fig.2 is a bottom Fig. 3 isa detached top view of the part A in Fig. 1, and its connec tions. Fig. 4 is a part side'view of the same, and a part sectional view through line or y of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional plan through line 102 of Fig.6, of a modified form of part Y of my invention.

Fig. 6 is a sectionalteleva' tion of the same through line 20 z of Fig.5.

In the drawings, a is a line of pipe through the train, commm'iicating with the brakecylinders G, and b is another line of. pipe communicating with the brake-cylinders I).

The rear end of the line of pipe' a is closed by a plug, a, and that of pipe I) by a cap, I). The pipes a, and b open respectively into the chambers" a and b", at their front ends. From these chambers a and b run the pipes a' and 1W respectively. .Th'ese pipes form a part'of the eje'ctors hereto t'ore usedfor vacu- 1 um brakes, and-by the admission of r the,

steam into the chamber A, and its discharge around'the' pipes 60' and b(, the air is ex hau'sted in thensual wayfrom these pipes and from the chambers to and b", and also from the-cylinders O and D throughithe pipes aandbl" I Inthe system tectonic-"used the lines of pipe'a; and b have "been' connected at one or more points. 7 that if any opening of the pipesor cyl nders occurs throughout the trainfthef wholei apparatus is inoperative, and th brakes Wm not hold at all.

through which there is no opening.

It has therefore happened Y In my invention, the two lines of pipe and their attachments are entirely separate, so as to operate independently. Then, even it one fails completely, the other remains unimpaired in its working, and holds its part of the train perfectly.

' When both parts are in working order, their simultaneous act-ion gives the same result as if they were connected, so that nothingis lost in the regular working of the whole by the division into two parts, while much is gained when anything in the one linegives out, by the continued operation of the other Thechambers a and b, with which the pipes a. and b respectively communicate, have heretofore been one, and through this cham- 'ber these pipes have been connected with each other. I introduce between these two chambers the partition 6, thus shutting off the communication between the pipes at this 7 point.

The air-valve E makes a joint with the edge of this partition, and the opening of this valve admits air to both pipes a-and b, as heretofore? r i The two lines of pipe have also been usually coupled together at the. rearot' thetrai n,.though,where valves have been made in the couplings, it has not been necessary ithat this should be done; but I close the end of each line by attaching blank couplings These blankcouplings seem to me to be better than valves in*t'he regular couplings, because they are less delicate and less likely to leak,

and alsobecause they do not ofi'er any ob- 'struction ,to.the flow of the fluid through the pipes, sincelthey must be entirely withdrawn before the pipes are coupledwvith those oi: another car in making u pthe train. Tt,jhowe ve'r, valves iuthe couplings shall be used, they will answer the same general purjxpose.

lt'willbe seen that upon the engine and' tender 1 use but one cylinder ib1' .ope1 ati i 1g' 1 'both brakes, \vhile upon thecarr'I use two, each working but one brake. It is unimpor.-. tant which form is used but where onlyone cylinder is employed for each car, itis necessarythat the two lines of pipe should cross each other under each car. i

Only one of the lines of pipe can open intoeach cylinder, because if both opened into any one chamber, they-would then be in communication with each other through such chamber; and it the pipes did not cross under each car, it might happen that the difi'erent cars brought together in making up atraiu should all have their cylinders connected with the same line of pipe-either the one 011 the right or that on the left sideof the cars. In this case the operation of the brake would depend upon the working of this single line of pipe, while the other line would .be entirely useless. It might be, however, that part of the cars on any particular railroad,

should have their cylinders attached to the right-hand pipes, and part to the left-hand ones; but then the equal division of'the work between the twolines'ot' pipe would reguiref that as many cars with the left-,handatta'ohment of cylinder be taken inthe' train as of those with the right-hand attachment, Itisi obvious that such a selection'of cars would be entirely impracticable.

'Now, the crossing'of the pipes'un der eachi car secures the connection of each line with tions attached 'to, eachfcar runs zigzag through the train, first from right to left, 'and'then from left to right.

'Ifthe cylinders be attached, for instance; to those pipes exclusively which eross 'fromj left to right under each car, then as halfjot' these se'ctionsbelong to one,of th e thiiough= lines, and the other half to'th e otherone,fi,t

is" plain that eachthrough line will react and operate half of the cylinders, and that? the-work will be equallydivided between the two. Then, if one line fails utterlyptheother one will secure the operation of the; brakes oni every alternate car in the train. It is there-f fore plain that the crossih'g of v the pipesaisa very important feature inthearrangement1hr; the use of one brake cylinder iorea'chcar, and:

' two distinct'lines of pipes.

Where two cylinders are used upon' each, car-one being connected with oneflline ofj pipe and the other with theother "line? there is-no occasion for the crossiugof the pipes. The failure otone linewill leave the other to. operate half the brakes of every car,

g It will be seen that the single steam-pipe F'is used" for supplying the steam for ioper ating bot-h eject0rs,and that the same valve E is opened for the admission of the airto both chambers. a and b. It is hardly necessary to explain that the two ejectors may, if desired, be made entirely distinct, having separate steam-pipes and air-valves. I

Instead of drawing the air from the pipes and cylinders by means of ejectors, it may be donethrough-valves opening into chambers from which the air has been previously exhausted by pumps, or in any other conv venient-wayl Thus, in Figs. 5 and 6, let a be a pipe opening into an exhausted receiver,

and 11 another pipe opening into another ex-c .ha usted receiver. When thevalve f is lifted the air or other fluid rushes from pipe a and cylinders O into-the receiver, and when g is lifted it rushes from b and D into the other receiver.

This invention appliesequally to the arrangement in which the brakesare puton by pressure within the pipes and cylinders, instead .of by exhausting from within these pipes, and cylinders. The modification in the construction of parts which would be required i s;too 'obviousto need especialv description;

and it will answer to have the pipes and cylinders filled with any convenient fluid or liquid, such aswater oroil, instead of with air.

Insteadot' cylinders and pistons for operating the brakes, it will answer to use bellows, such as are employed on many cars at present in use. The bellows may be con sidered as the equivalent of the cylinder and pisto t The gagen communicates with one of the chambers by the pipe h, and with the other byzth'e pipek. The cocks h andrlc are supposed to beopened, as shownr In this case there is aeonnection between the two chambers a and the two lines ot' pipes a and b,

' through the pipes h and k. Thiscommuni cation tends to produce an equalizing of the pressure'in thetwo lines of pipe"rnnning through the train, and in the. brake 'cylinders vconnected with them} but when it becomes .de sirable to separate the two lines, the 'enginemanhas only, to. close either of the cooks 1 h and k, The gage gives the pressure for 9 either line of pipes and cylinders, according as one or theother of thetwo, cocks is opened.

Iclaim-.- I .l.;The combination, on each car, of' two p pesoss aqh o e n brakey m der conn ted withconeof said pipes, so that the cylinders; of adjoining carswill be oper-' ated 1mm gh difi'erent pipes; substantially as fand for the purpose .setfoxth.

. 2. The1lifne of pipes throughout the train, separated into twordistinctp parts having no cornmunicationwith eaohother one of which connects with the cylinders or their 'equivalents, for operating part of the brakes of the train, and',th e other withcthe cylinders or their equivalehts for operating the vremaining brakes, v 3. The separate .exhaust chambers .a' and b, and the ejector-.pipt'as.a', an'djb, in com: bination with the pipes a, which communi cate with the brake-cylinders operating part apparatus, the chest a b, with the partiof the brakes in the train, and with the pipes tion 6. substantially as and for the purposes 12, which communicate with the cylinders described.

which operate the remaining brakes, or their JAMES D. BUTLER. equivalent, substantially as and for the pur- Witnesses: poses set forth. LE ROY Z. OoLLINs,

4.- In a double ejector for a vacuum-brake CHARLES C. MURDOGK. 

